St. Paul daily globe., 1887-12-25


prOfted by the lessons, and you can
now buy lot SO far out in the woods
that You will get lost in finding it. But
it is as good as gold, just the same. l
know of a gentleman who went out into
one of the new divisions the other day
to look for a couple of lots he wanted to
buy from a Minneapolis real estate
dealer. He spent the entire afternoon
looking for the corner stakes, but failed.
The trees and underbrush and snow
made the forest almost impenetrable;
but, not to be outdOne, lie went out the
next day and, after few hours search,
found the property, came back to town
and bought the lots for $3.50 apiece. 1t
is an actual fact that he was
AS APT TO FIND A BEAR
or any other wild animal on one of the
lots as he was to find the surveyors
stakes. He was a shrewd man, though,
as every one will admit when they know
that an institution will in few weeks
be in operation within 800 yards of these
lots employing 100 men. This is not in
tended TO show that prices of property
are inflated OF held at eXhorbitant fig
ureS. The truth is the contrary. Prices
are firm but reasonable.
There is 10 let-up in business activity
on account of winter. The city is en-
gagged in cutting twelve or fifteen blocks
of new streets in the woods east of town,
and there are several miles of road
building being done in every direction.
In the spring Second and Sixth streets
will be paved, as will also portion Of
Prentice avenue, with pine and cedar
blocks. Miles upon miles of gut
ter building and street grad
ing contracts have been let, and
the enormous sewer work begun last
summer only stopped few weeks ago,
when the earth froZe solid.
Two years ago sail on Chequame-
gOn bay was the exception during the
summer and not the rule; now in the
shipping season it Is the rule and not
the exception. What one person living
in Ashland four years ago could have
been made to believe that during the
short season of 1SSi-frOm June to No
vember-6S7 steam and sail vessels
| would leave this port with 1.040, $50 tons
of iron ore? Who would have believed
had a prophet been i'll the land and
| said, ''Verily, in the summer of 1887,
1882 steam and sail vessels
WILL CLEAR FROM ASHLAND?1
No one. But it is the record. Would
any one believe at that time that 566
buildings, some of them palatial bank
| ing houses and residences, would be
built here during the same period? 1t is
doubtful. Ninety-two of this number
alone were business blocks, and the
! whole lot cost 81, 234, 100. Who did this,
and why was 1t done? Not because
people were anxious to do something for
the then little town of Ashland. but be-
| cause there was a profitable investment
| in sight-a new era had opened up for
this section by the discovery and devel-
opment of the most wonderful iron
mines on the continent. The location
of the blast furnaces and smelling
works, fOunderies and machine
| shops have followed in rapid
succession. The ore must be made into
pig" the ''pig" must be made into
useful articles, and shrewd men argued
that Observation-Disclosures the place to
do it, right in the mouth of the mines
and upon the bank of Chequamegon
bay, the finest harbor OH the chief of the
great fresh water lakes of North
America.
These things have been heralded
abroad, and the little bOomlet started by
shrewd real estate men, who only
wanted few days of excitement to fill
their pockets, unwittingly did Ashland
a favor they never dreamed they were
| doing.
so THE THING HAS BEEN GOING ON.
The bOomlet slept during the summer,
but at about its close it began to break
out In bowling, vigorous old boom, and
small spectators saw what sagaciouS